Social Action Theories Flashcards
Who do social action theories think society is creations of?
Creations of the individual
What do they put emphasis on?
Voluntarism and free will
What data do they use?
Qualitative data
What are they top down or bottom up approaches?
Bottom up - aren’t passive
Who’s methodological approach do social action theorists favour?
Max Weber
What did Weber suggest?
That to understand the meanings and motivations of an individuals behaviour, a researcher needs to achieve Verstehen
Interpretivists theories?
Cause and effect is too simplistic to really understand human behaviour, and sociology isn’t scientific
Positivist theories?
Cause and effect, supporting the idea that sociology is a science
What are the 2 different types of social action theories?
Symbolic interactionism
Ethnomethodology
What are the 4 branches of symbolic interactionism?
Mead and Blumer
The Looking Glass Self (Cooley)
The labelling theory (Becker)
Goffman’s dramaturgical model
What is the idea of the looking glass self?
The idea that our image of ourselves is reflected back to us in the view of others
What does the process of interaction do for symbolic intertionism?
Help make social order possibly
What is the labelling theory?
The labels people give to others that influence their self concepts
Goffman’s Dramaturgical model?
Disagrees with labelling and instead people construct themselves by manipulating other peoples impressions of them.
2 key dramaturgical concepts?
The presentation of self
Impression management
